Women’s Crisis Services warn of increase in femicides as it preps to march later this month

November is Women Abuse Prevention Month; a walk is being held at the end of the month that aims to raise funds for Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region (WCSWR).

The organization is looking to raise $60,000 or more for the march Nov. 30, all of which goes right back into helping women and children locally. Over half of that amount has already been raised.

The CEO of WCSWR, Jennifer Hutton, says those funds are much needed.

“We have about 95 to 100 people using our emergency shelters every month, and close to 50 per cent of those residents are children,” said Hutton.

“We often are full, if not close to full, however we’re really finding that people are staying in our shelter for longer periods of time and that’s really because of the affordable housing crisis. We also see 85 to 100 outreach clients per month because sometimes people may not necessarily need to stay in shelter.”

In Ontario there’s been 52 reported femicides since last November, which Hutton expects to only increase.

People are encouraged to wear purple this month or during the walk to show support for those who lost their lives and who are experiencing or recovering from domestic violence.

Hutton added more education is needed for the public about how often femicides or domestic violence are happening.

“This issue continues to exist because there’s a lot of shame and secrecy attached to it that shouldn’t be because it’s very common. People are talking about it more, but we need to keep those conversations going.” she said.

Voice’s Empower: Walk to Break the Silence will march from Waterloo Town Square at the end of the month, starting at 1 p.m. and will bring a sea of purple to the Uptown core.

The 6km walk will symbolize that, across Canada, a woman is killed by their domestic partner every six days.